


Desiderium

by Misstring



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: And there's alternate universes involved, Bruce Wayne is Dead, Bruce Wayne is Not Batman, F/F, F/M, I don't know, Martha Wayne is Joker, Selina Kyle-centric, Thomas Wayne is Batman, but it's complicated
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-06
Updated: 2019-12-07
Packaged: 2020-01-04 14:49:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18345860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Misstring/pseuds/Misstring
Summary: Desiderium- an ardent desire or longing; especially: a feeling of loss or grief for something lost.  In a world where Bruce Wayne dies instead of his parents, Selina Kyle feels like an important part of her life is missing as both Thomas and Martha Wayne started to become slightly crazy.





	1. Bruce's Death

One gunshot rings through the air, only to be followed by quick footsteps running away from the scene. Selina froze where she was, crouched and afraid to move; afraid to turn from what she saw. Blood was pooling around the boy, who seemed no older than nine. A man, who she assumed was his father, dropped to the ground, putting pressure on the bullet wound. He knew it was too late, there was already too much blood and the heartbeats faint, only growing still as time went on. He knew it was of no use to try and stop the blood, but he found himself putting pressure onto the wound, pressing harder as his son’s eyes lost its light, and his head went limp against the floor, the glossed over eyes never able to read another book, find anymore clues, or see his parents ever again.

Only then did the mother come out of a state of paralysis, dropping to her knees, not caring about her couture attire that only minutes ago she was complaining about how the air was turning it sooty gray.

“Bruce!” her anguished voice rang out through the streets carrying pain as her only son laid dead on the streets of Gotham. Tears mixed with her foundation and her mascara, causing it to run down her face. Her hat fell off, landing in the blood, staining it and her image as a perfect, high class woman, which disappeared alongside her son’s death. Rain poured down from the heavens, carrying the blood through the cracks in the streets down into the soil, embedding Bruce Wayne forever into the heart of Gotham like so many others before him.

His funeral was, in short, full of people he never knew and never will know. Having been homeschooled, he did not have any friends that would attend, just acquaintances from his father's business partners.

Selina watched from afar, reminding her of her mother's last words while the all too familiar procession continued on. As they filled the grave, Selina walked towards her mother's grave. She was greeting her mom like she normally would and while placing a flower on her grave, she heard someone’s footsteps walking up behind her; alarmed, she jolted up and turned around.

"Was that your mother?" the man asks, his voice tinged with the sorrow of a recent loss.

Selina nods, staying silent while she observes his actions.

He stands there, looking over at the ending funeral procession, "It must be hard living without your mother. At such a young age, too." He closed his eyes as they watered, threatening to break his public mask.

"Mom said that the strong knew when to cry, but the weak would let it build, eventually letting it destroy them," Selina says looking towards the grave diggers filling the grave.

"Your mother was a wise woman," he stops and looks at the grave. "But I am a weak man, I couldn't save my son, I was helpless."

"Gotham is never kind to anyone, especially the good people. People become bad because that is their way of surviving. That's what people do, they do anything to survive. Even bringing others down in the process."

He looks down at the small girl. A girl, who looks to be around the age of nine but her height and weight being well below her years, enthralling him with her understanding well past her years.

"Mom was good. She made mistakes and sometimes she had to be bad, but she was always kind and she cared. Maybe she cared too much. But because she cared she became like a mom to me when mother died." She looks down at the gravestone and then back up at him, "Good-bye sir, I need to go now." She leaves him standing there contemplating how Gotham treats its people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I am also editing the chapters after I post, there are no changes, however, to the story itself.


	2. Three Years Later

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Three years of fighting crime. It was the last year of the Joker.

Gotham nights are dangerous. He knew this; he not only grew up in Gotham, but he experienced it firsthand. The pain, the loss, still fresh in his heart.

*boom*

A bomb rips through the air, shaking the ground and blasting heat into its surroundings. 

_Now isn't the time to reminiscence about the past_. He pulls his mind together as another planted bomb goes off. He has to stop the Joker. It was only the Joker, not him and his goons.

He jumps onto the building over and jumps down to the ground behind the Joker in an attempt to land a surprise attack. What he didn't account for was that the Joker was also on par with him, in both combat and in tactical thoughts.

He lets out a maniacal laugh, his voice distorted through the mask he was wearing.

"Batman, did you really think that I would let you attack me?" The Joker asks while laughing.

Batman growls, prepping for the next attack. 'The Joker, likes to put on a show, like a clown. Doesn't want a small audience. Never kills, but causes serious structural damage to the buildings that I, as in Thomas, is going to be paying, indirectly, to fix,'

They were circling the other, each one of them awaiting for the other's move, patiently analyzing each others movements while preparing a counter attack if the other did attack. What the Joker did not account for, however, was a small pebble on the ground that caused him to stumble a bit. Batman takes advantage of the slip-up, punching at an angle that knocked the mask off of his face.

Or rather, her face.

"You're-- you're--" He stutters out.

"Wonderful, now I have to get a new mask," she laughs, launching herself towards Batman with a baton in hand.

He puts his arm up to block it, knowing that there wasn't enough time or room to dodge the attack. The moment it hit his suit, he knew it was no ordinary baton. The hum of electricity flowing through the baton that was covered by the city sounds was now louder than the sirens going off in his head. His body convulsed as he drops to the floor, paralyzed from the taser.

"Now, what is your move, batsy?" her voice rang through his head, splitting it with her voice. She continues, "Three years for all this to work out, three years of you trying to put me," she gestures to herself, "into that shambles of buildings called Arkham Asylum," she laughs as she tasers him again. "How are you going to get out of this one?"

He stays still on the ground his hand inching towards his utility belt to keep her from noticing. She kept rambling on about this and that, bits and pieces of information being thrown around as though it was a game of volleyball, only she was the sole player.

"Batsy?" she asks pointing the taser towards him, about to taser him a third time.

'Now!' he holds his breath as he activates smoke bombs that released a soporific gas. Over the years he built resistance to small doses of it but because of who she was, he needed a stronger concentration. He slides his gas mask on as he rolls away.

"Trying to run away?" she laughs, her voice sweet with her insanity. Realizing too late what the gas was for, she falls towards the ground unconscious as Thomas catches her before she hit the ground.

He presses his communicator to send a signal to the cave as he started to feel drowsy and falling on the ground next to her, asleep.

\---

A couple of hours later and he was up. Getting cleaned up to look presentable, he heads down to the cave without even thinking about any of his other responsibilities. There she was, the Joker, in a containment cell that he specifically made to house aliens if he ever encountered one. After all, he was an alien enthusiast; he wants to study almost everything about them. It was a large cell with a bed, a sink, a toilet, a desk, and even a chair.

"Ah, Mister Wayne. Are you well?" Alfred asks coming into the cave with a tray of food.

Thomas stays silent observing Joker's breathing.

"I'll be leaving your breakfast and your schedule for today here then," Alfred says setting down the tray on a cleared table near a large computer.

"Alfred, did you know about this?" Thomas's voice wavered as he looked at her figure once again, tears forming in his eyes as he realizes how much they’ve fallen apart.

“No, sir. I did not,” Alfred politely replies before being dismissed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!  
> And to those who celebrate it, Happy Easter.


	3. Wayne's New Ward

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Thomas--"
> 
> "Martha, I promise I'll fix it, I promise." Thomas gets up and pushing Martha's hand away and leaves the room that she was relocated to.

"Martha," Thomas rises from his seat as she starts to wake up.

"What? How did I get here?" She asks, pressing her hand to her throbbing temple.

"I think it's safe to say that the silent house is driving the both of us crazy," Thomas says, helping her out of the bed.

She groans out in pain and rubs her temple, trying to ease the pain.

"Batman," she chokes, facing Thomas. "I swear, it isn't what you think, Thomas." She winces as her own voice pierces through her head.

"No, I should've known better." He gently pushes her back on the bed, "You need more rest, so stay here. Alfred will come down to assist you in a bit,"

"Thomas--"

"Martha, I promise I'll fix it, I promise." Thomas gets up and pushing Martha's hand away and leaves the room that she was relocated to.

\---

Oswald Cobblepot stood outside of the Wayne Manor. Using his umbrella as a cane he steps closer to the doorbell after he dismissed his goons.

*bzzzt*

He rings the doorbell and waits.

\---

"Selina Kyle," Officer Brown started.

Selina just rolls her eyes and sighs, sinking further down into her chair.

"You are going to be taken in by Mister Wayne," she says gesturing to Thomas, who in turns smiles.

"You've seen my record. I'm going to run away. I do better on the streets," Selina says.

Brown sighs and looks at Selina's files, "You've stolen to keep yourself alive. You were shot multiple times by some of the police officers, not to mention you were once found unconscious outside the station after contracting pneumonia. That is not--"

"Better? I get it, but my friends are still out there, I was taking care of them," Selina protests, sitting up in the process.

"Isley was taken back in by her family weeks ago--"

"Not her but Ava and Jack."

"Ava and Jack Smith? They died during a shoot out yesterday."

Selina's eyes widen as she whispers out, "No, no, no," before shouting, "No! They can't be dead!" She runs out of the office.

Thomas frowns. _Incompetent officers._ He scowls at Brown before running out behind Selina.

After ten minutes of running down the streets to where Selina stayed with the other kids, Thomas found her crouched against the wall crying into her arms as her hand gripped a piece of paper.

"Selina?" Thomas cautiously asks, stepping forward.

Selina keeps her face buried in her arms as she sobs out, "They knew what they were doing,"

"May I?" Thomas asks while taking hold of the piece of paper.

Selina lets the paper go and Thomas reads through it.

' ~~Der~~ Dear Selina,

We know how much truble you go ~~throg~~ through to keep us alive.

We want you to have a life without us pulling u back.

Thank you and stay happy, we'll always be with you.

Jack Smith and Ava Smith'

Thomas drops down and rubs Selina's back as she continued to sob. He stayed there, rubbing her back until she started sniffling. She eventually looks up.

"Do you want a hug?" Thomas softly inquires.

Selina, without a second of thought, nods and Thomas hugs her; she hugs back crying once more into his dress shirt. Thomas comforts her until she is silent.

"Do you want to go back to the station?"

Selina nods, keeping her face buried in his shirt.

Thomas rubs her back as he lifts her off the ground and while carrying her like an infant, he walks back to the station, ignoring the looks he got carrying a 12-year-old, who was obviously crying.

Thomas completes all of the paperwork while Selina waited quietly on a chair, too exhausted to think, let alone move.

"Let's go, Selina," Thomas prods her off the chair.

In a zombie state, Selina follows Thomas to his car.

\---

"My dear friend, now how have you been?" Oswald Cobblepot inquires, entering the sitting room with a flourish.

"It's been awful. You know of my nightly endeavors, right?" Martha complains.

"The ones that caused the bombing down several streets?" Oswald sits down and Martha pours him a cup of tea.

As he picks it up, Matha says, "The very same. Thomas will soon find out about them."

Oswald sets down his teacup before he even takes a sip and folds his hands together, "Elaborate."

Martha sighs, "The one night I went out alone, I was knocked unconscious by the Dark Knight and I found myself here,"

"There's going to be a huge change to Gotham soon," Oswald states nonchalantly, taking the first sip of tea before placing it down again.

"I'll take your word, but do you know whether it's going to be a good change or--" Martha stops as Alfred knocks on the door to the sitting room. "Yes, Alfred?"

"Ma'am, Mister Wayne is back and he brought a guest."

"Oh, wonderful. Show them in." Martha stands as Thomas enters the room. "Thomas, you're back,"

Thomas gives her a kiss on the cheek. He then motions to Selina to come into view, "Martha, I know you are going to give me hell for this, but we have a ward now. This is Selina," he turns to Selina, "Selina, this is Martha, my wife."

"It's nice to meet you, ma'am," Selina says giving a little bend in a knee as a way to curtsy without a skirt.

"Oh. Selina, what a wonderful name. It just rolls off the tongue." Martha lightly chuckles, "Selina, it is a pleasure to meet you as well. Let's get you settled now. You haven't slept in days, have you?" Martha calls for Alfred and leaves to pick a room for her. "I will be right back."

Thomas looks around the room for the first time since entering and finally takes notice of Oswald Cobblepot. "Oh, Mister Cobblepot. I did not see you there. Visiting Martha?" He offers a handshake.

"Oh, yes. It is quite the pleasure to see you again, Mister Wayne," Oswald replies accepting the handshake.

Selina counts the number of times their hands came down before they let go. She looks around the room and finds that the sitting room was decorated to seem as though it came straight out of a movie.

"Ms. Kyle?" Oswald asks after seeing Selina zone out, "I heard about your friends, I am truly sorry for your loss,"

Selina nods and zones out as Oswald Cobblepot and Thomas Wayne start talking about smuggling illegal technology through the harbor. She looks around the room and Thomas Wayne notices.

"Selina, feel free to look around," Thomas says before going back to his conversation.

Selina complies.

Somehow, walking around she ended up in a study with several papers tacked up onto a board with strings connecting certain ones with notes taped onto the line.

"There you are Ms. Kyle,"

Selina turns around. "Who?"

"I am Alfred Pennyworth, the butler, one of the two workers at the estate. The other being the housekeeper, Mary Vagner. You may call me Alfred or any other appropriate name if you would like. I am to show you your room and make sure there are no inadequacies with it," Alfred says.

"May you please show me where the room is?"

"I shall; if you would follow me," he says before going through the door Selina came in through.

They enter the hallway and he leads her down one flight of steps to the door nearest to the bottom of the flight.

He opens the door to a room with chairs and a table in it. "This is your sitting room, where, I assume, most of your days at home would be spent other than roaming around the manor." He gestures to the door across from them. "That is the door to your bedroom and," he gestures to the door to the right of them, "that is the bathroom." He stops to allow Selina to take in the information. "Is everything to your liking, Miss Kyle?" he inquires.

"Yes, thank you," Selina responds and as Alfred leaves, closing the door behind him, she explores the furnished rooms.

The bedroom consists of what she assumed was called a full-sized bed with a canopy, a dresser, a vanity table, and a bench at the foot of the bed, two smaller dressers flanking the vanity table, and a small bedside table. Every piece of furniture in the room appeared to be from the same set. The curtains and the bedsheets were of the same color. Selina moved carefully around, everything looking too nice to touch. There was a knock on the door and the door swings open.

"How do you like it?" Martha Wayne asks, peeking in through the doorway.

"The colors are easy on the eyes."

"It is. I came to let you know, tomorrow, a seamstress will be coming to take your measurements for clothes. The closet has some of my older clothes. It might be big on you, I never realized how thin and petite you actually are,"

"Thank you,"

"Oh, yes. Dinner will be in an hour, so be down by then,"

Selina nods and Martha leaves the room after saying something.

Selina looks around the room again, whelmed by her senses. New environment, new scents, new situations, different atmosphere, heck, even the floor was different. The air was softer than the city, easier to breathe, yet it felt like she was suffocating. Suffocating in a room larger than what she was used to. A room, larger than her living room. Before she could stop herself, she fell to the ground, feeling weak and lightheaded. As she stands back up, her head spins and she falls back onto the floor. She makes no effort to get up, instead, she opts to fall asleep on the rug.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note:  
> Sorry for being gone for a while. I can't promise you much, but I can promise one thing. Before the end of this year, there will be at least up to chapter 6 out. That is my promise. That's less than one chapter a month but with life happening, please understand.


	4. Secret No Longer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Secrets revealed and friendships rejected and made.

Waking up, Selina is on her bed with Thomas and Martha Wayne near her bed. As she opens her eyes, Martha releases a sigh of relief as Thomas gives her an ‘I told you so’ look.

Selina frowns, “Is something wrong?”

“Martha found you on the floor when she came up to call you down for dinner,” Thomas looks at Martha, “I told her it was a slight fever but she wouldn’t listen insisting there was something terribly wrong. I’ve never seen her this worried.” Thomas looks at her in a teasing yet adoring way before turning back to Selina.

“I was not _that_ worried. Thomas, don’t exaggerate,” Martha says. “I will go and make something for us. Any requests, Selina?”

Selina shakes her head, “No requests, thank you.”

“Alright then,” Martha says leaving the room.

“Mr. Wayne,” Selina starts but Thomas interrupts her.

“Call me Thomas, or whatever feels comfortable, just not Mr. Wayne. We are not in the middle of a business meeting. Put this under your tongue for me?” he says giving her a thermometer.

She does and for a minute there is silence. Thomas takes the thermometer out and waits some more before reading the thermometer.

“Your fever went down. Any pain or any discomfort?” Thomas asks.

Selina shakes her head.

Thomas looks down into his bag and rummages around.

“Thom--” Selina stops, not liking the sound of his first name on her tongue. She thinks for a moment piecing together some final observations in her mind. “Batman. You are Batman.” she looks at Thomas for a reaction. He kept a stoic face still concentrated on finding whatever it was he was trying to find. “I confirmed it with your study. All the cases on the pinboard for the world to see. Am I right?”

“Yes. I guess there is no hiding it. Yes, you are right on the fact that I am Batman, but those cases in the study were not solved by me,” he says softly. He puts on his stethoscope. He places the chest piece onto Selina’s chest and asks her to take a deep breathe in and out. He places it on her back and does the same.

“Then who--” Selina stops as she remembers the dates on the newspaper clippings. Thomas’s expression only further supported her conclusion as her brain finished the analysis. “Oh, I see. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I thought I was ready to face it after three years, but I guess I was not,” he smiles a sad smile. He puts away his medical equipment and says, “Lay off any strenuous activity for a couple of days.”

“I never met him before but he would’ve been a great person,” Selina says, trying to comfort the grown man.

“Thank you, but what is in the past should stay in the past.” Changing the topic, he asks, “The study wasn’t the only thing cluing you to your conclusion, am I right?”

“Your voice, even though you make it sound deeper to the criminals, when you talk to children, especially run-aways, your tonality is the same as the one you used today, uh, yesterday? And there is the physique. When you look at someone’s back for a while, it doesn’t take much to recognize it,” Selina says, before asking, “Mr. Wayne, may I join you in your vigilante work?”

“No, it’s too dangerous,” Thomas immediately answers.

“I’ll be sneaking out anyways. Wouldn’t it be better if you knew where I was and you could keep an eye on me?” Selina counters.

“Still it’s dangerous. I will make Alfred keep a close eye on you to prevent that from happening,” Thomas asserts, ending the conversation with, “Why don’t we go down? Martha is probably done with the food.”

Martha was not done with the food when the two stumbled into the kitchen. Martha, delighted with the free hands she saw, put them to work in the kitchen, mixing, frying, and chopping food. Soon the table was set for three and some food was set aside for Alfred and Mary.

Selina hesitates to take a bite, never having a meal like this set in front of her in a while. Martha notices and with a gentle smile urges her to take a bite. Selina does and starts to cry. A warm home-cooked meal, a house to live in, people who would care for her, and no worry of her basic needs in the immediate future; it was all too much for her to keep inside. Gratitude, shown through her tears, her sobs as she is freed from the stress, but a sense of guilt still kept gnawing on the inside.

“Selina,” Martha says softly.

“I--,” Selina wipes away her tears and tries to stop, “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. It’s alright to cry,” Thomas says.

“Thank you,” Selina sobs out. “I don’t deserve any of this, yet--”

“Don’t say that. Every child deserves a proper home, food, at the very least parents or people that will care for them. It’s the selfish, corrupt people that make the world unfair,” Martha says.

Thomas starts, “I know you will bring change with what you have now, which is why I decided to take you in as my ward. It is because of whom you are that you are sitting there right now, not by accident nor luck.”

“We aren’t much better than those selfish corrupt people. After all, we are part of that one percent. But we still want to change the world for the better. We hope you can, too. No, we _know_ you can,” Martha tries to comfort her.

Selina stays silent as her sobs cease and she starts to think, pushing aside as much emotion as she could.

“If that is what you want me to do,” Selina starts. “Please let me jo--”

“No!” Thomas interrupts her; briefly glancing at Martha before he reverts back to the stern face.

“What does she mean, Thomas?” Martha asks.

Thomas, flustered, stutters a bit but isn’t able to say much.

Selina seizes the opportunity and before Thomas can say anything, blurts out, “Please let me join you on your vigilante work,”

Something in Martha’s brain clicks. Her eyes widen. Her hands slam down on the table as she stands. “Thomas, you, you’re--” her throat started to close up, “Batman?” her much higher pitch signaled to Thomas on her condition.

“Martha, look at me and take a deep breath in,” he states.

She starts to breathe in, then out, in and out, in and out, in, out, in, out. Thomas places a paper bag in front of her mouth to help stop her hyperventilation.

As Selina watched with confused eyes, Thomas gives her a reassuring smile. Martha calms down and places down the paper bag.

“Let’s talk about this after dinner, shall we?” Martha says resuming to eat.

Thomas and Selina follow suit.

\---

After dinner, Mary comes in and takes the plates as Martha says, “Selina, you are free to go. I have something to talk about with Thomas.”

Selina nods and gratitudes Martha for the dinner. She picks up the rest of the dishes and goes to the kitchen to put them away. As Selina enters the kitchen Mary looks at the dishes in her arms in what can be most comparable to horror.

“Child, what are you doing?” Mary chided, taking the dishes from Selina. Selina apologizes but Mary continues until a loud clash rings through the manor.

Selina, alert and ready to fight or flight, looks for the source of the sound. Mary sighs as Alfred comes into the kitchen.

“Mary, I require a bit of assistance,” Alfred says before leaving the kitchen in a rush that the door moved with the vacuum he created in front of it.

Before Selina was able to finish the first word, Mary was out the door. Selina follows her down the halls and into a large room equipped with gym and martial art accessories. In the center of the room, on top of the padded floor stood one person, tall and strong, and the other stumbled about.

“Thomas! Keep your head up, back straight,” Martha barks out as she goes in for a jab with a foil.

“Martha, please listen,” Thomas pleads as he barely manages to parry off her first attack, getting hit with the second.

“I am,” Martha says only to attack while also sliding forward, causing Thomas to trip up and fall to the ground.

“I’m sorry for keeping it a secret, I won’t ever keep a secret from you ever again,” Thomas says, getting up and pointing the foil to her neck. “But that is if you don’t ever keep a secret as big as this to yourself.”

“I wasn’t the only one who knew about the secret. Mary knew,” Martha says, pushing the sword aside and going into a direct attack.

“Marry knew!” Thomas exclaims.

“Mister and Mistress Wayne, may I add that there is not much time before tomorrow starts. Both of you have an early schedule tomorrow morning.” Alfred says stepping in. “Mistress Wayne, I am the one in the wrong as I was not able to stop Mister Wayne from becoming Batman.”

“Not only you; I’m also at fault,” Mary says stepping out to help Martha Wayne out of her gear while Alfred helps Thomas. “If I may,” Mary says and continues after Martha gives a go-ahead, “This gear was put on haphazardly. Not to mention it’s the wrong gear for this martial art.”

Both Waynes sigh and call out each other’s names. Laughing as though they weren’t fighting moments ago, they both apologized and Selina left the room before it got even warmer in there.

“Selina!” Martha says as she noticed Selina leaving.

Selina comes back in and both Martha and Thomas are in their normal attire.

“If you want to join Thomas on the vigilante work, I’ll train you to be a better fighter than anyone out there. I’m retiring as the Joker.”

“Martha! You’ll kill her!” Thomas exclaims.

“Perhaps, but it’s for her own good.”

“If she survives!”

“Being out there is life or death, Thomas. You can’t protect her every second of the night.”

“I never said I would be letting her join me!”

“I will take her in as a villain if you don’t.”

“Fine! Have it your way!”

“Selina, do you accept my offer?”

Selina nods, accepting the proposal.

The next few days flew by as Martha spent a fourth of her month’s spending allotment on getting the best for Selina, whether it be clothes or school supplies, everything bought and given to Selina. Selina protested majority of the purchases but Martha, insisting that Selina would need it, bought every item on the school supply list.

Tired, Selina plops onto the bed after another day of training but with school starting the next day, her mind wandered. By the time she felt mentally tired enough to sleep the sun rose. Groaning, she gets out of bed. Dragging her tired body to the breakfast bar, Selina slumps down in the seat. Martha places a plate with toast, eggs, ham, and lettuce, before telling Selina to sit up.

Martha hugs Selina before she left for work; an appointment with one of her therapy patients.

“Miss Selina, it’s time to go to school,” Mary says, washing the dishes and taking Selina’s empty ones from in front of her. “Here is your allowance for this week,” Mary places an envelope in front of her. “You are free to use it for whatever you would like to use it on, as long as you are complying with the law.”

Inside was an Alexander Hamilton. “This much?” Selina asked, genuinely astounded. “I don’t need this much.”

“Your lunch,” Mary places a lunch box on the bar. “Sweetie, they won’t give you anything less than the best as long as you keep within the law.”

Selina opens her mouth to protest but Alfred announced that the car was ready and it was time for her to go. Selina reluctantly grabs her backpack and lunchbox before heading out the door to the vehicle.

It was weird getting to school in a car and being driven up to the front instead of running through the doors as the bell rings. People at the front started whispering, as it was rare for someone with enough wealth to buy a Mercedes-Benz would be going to that school. Selina sighs. _It’s going to be a long day._

Already students were crowding around the car trying to figure out who was inside and who their next target was.

Alfred was about to get out but Selina, with a quick farewell, exits the car faster than he was able to open the door. As the door closes, he makes sure Selina gets off and goes to the entrance before leaving the U shaped driveway.

“Selina!” Harleen shouts, running up to her and squeezing her as though Selina came back from the dead.

“Harleen,” Selina breathes out, Harleen squeezing her lungs making it hard to breathe.

“What happened? I heard about your adoption!” Harleen exclaims, letting her go.

“Not adoption, more like foster care,”

“Which homeroom class are you in? I’m in Ms. Harper,” Harleen asks, her excitement causing others to look over.

“Mrs. Cornell,” Selina answers. In a lower voice, she asks, “Did you hear from Pam?”

“Oh, about that. Her parents are angry at her running away, so she’s going to be homeschooled for a year then transferred to Gotham Academy.”

“Poor Pam, I should’ve been there to help.”

“Selina, there was nothing you could have done,” Harleen sighs out. “On the brighter note, have you heard of who is attending our school?”

“Who?” Selina asked, curious as it was the first time Harleen's focus was on a person.

“The kid that was offered to skip the sixth grade. Don’t you remember from a year ago?”

“Dent?”

“Yes. You’ll see, I’ll beat the heck out of him in academics. I’m going to rise in the academic world,” Harleen smiles in a way that gives Selina chills.

“Would not the best way to do that be getting into a prestigious high school, then university?” Selina asks, more to calm her down than anything.

“Your right, then I guess I’m joining Pam at Gotham Academy for high school.”

“What about the cost?”

“Scholarship,” Harleen states as the bell rings for homeroom. “See you later! Don’t get lost,” she calls out running down the hall so she could get to her locker on time.

“I should be telling that to you,” Selina calls out after her.

The clamoring in the halls only got louder as people opened their lockers, some getting pushed against it. On the first day of school too. Selina avoided the books tossed around and backpacks thrown across the hall as students yell and shout.

“Selina!” someone Selina doesn’t know says.

Selina looks straight ahead and does not acknowledge her, going to class as she prepared for the next few classes.

“Selina!” the someone says again, this time with more annoyance.

Selina finds her class and goes in, all the while not even looking to see who it was.

“Selina! We have the same class!” the someone says, cheery once more.

Selina goes to a seat in the middle of the classroom where there was only one seat open. From the corner of her eye, she sees the someone intimidate someone out of their seat. The seat right next to her. _Great._ Selina thought.

“Selina! I can’t believe you are ignoring me,” the someone says.

Selina pulls out a book to preoccupy herself and as a subtle way of saying ‘F off’ to her. _Or maybe not so subtle._ Selina sighs as her book was slammed down onto the table by that someone.

“Selina! Did I finally get your attention?” the someone says.

Selina looks at the girl in front of her. “Who are you?”

“Karen Collins, I’ve been calling you since we were in the hall.”

_Oh, great. Even her name reflects her attitude._ Selina thinks but stays silent prompting the Karen to continue.

“Let’s be friends!” Karen says.

“Not worthwhile,” Selina says, prying the book from under Karen’s hand and starts reading again.

“What do you mean?” Karen says, pulling down the book again.

Selina wanted to punch the daylights out of her, but she had to stay at a good standing with the school. Selina sighs instead, looking around discreetly to find that they were not only in the center of the classroom but also the center of the class’s attention.

“Why should I waste time on someone that can’t even respect other people?” Selina says looking at her in the eye for the first time in their conversation. Her glare was unwavering and Karen shifted under it, uncomfortable with the pressure she was feeling from someone she thought she could play. Karen stays silent, unable to think, let alone speak. “What? At a loss for words? Go sit down and stay down,” Selina ordains.

Karen, shaken to the core, fumbles around, trying to sit down with her weakened knees.

The teacher enters as the bell rings and Selina sighs for the umpteenth time of the day.

_It’s going to be a long day._

\---

“Can you believe it? That dude. No. Dude is too generic in this day and age,” Harleen takes a moment to think. “Bloke! That bloke in my homeroom and the two consecutive classes afterward!”

“That’s great, Harleen,” Selina says. She was distracted, distracted with the feeling of eyes on them.

“I’m assuming by 'bloke', you mean me,” a voice says from behind them.

Harleen jumps and does a 180 turn while also creating a few feet of distance from the source of the voice, with a flourish of an aerial.

Selina laughs, muttering, “Show-off,” as she turns to face the ‘bloke’ behind them.

The ‘bloke’ stood still, stunned for a moment but not for long. He quickly recomposes himself and with a charismatic smile, he offers a hand and a smile, “The names Harvey, Harvey Dent. I believe I am in the company of Selina Kyle and Harleen Quinzel,” He retracts his offer of a handshake when he realizes that neither of them made a gesture to accept it. “I never knew I would be called a bloke in the United States. If I remember correctly, that is a British term for a man.”

Harleen was too stunned to say anything and Selina was busy collecting herself after her burst of laughter.

“Sorry,” Selina says, breaking the silence. “Selina Kyle, but you knew that,” she says holding out a hand for a handshake.

Harvey grabs her hand and kisses the top before saying, “Ms. Kyle, it’s a pleasure to meet you. Your smile is one of the most, if not the most, charming smiles I have ever seen.”

“Thank you,” Selina says, adapting to the unusual situation.

Then they both turn to Harleen, who, during the entire exchange, turned florid.

“Why don’t we walk down the hall? Harleen and I were heading to biological science with Mr. Kane,” Selina asks.

“I have the same class next. Is this a coincidence or is it fate?” Harvey says as they start walking down the hall.

As Selina and Harvey continue talking, Harleen stays silent, still florid and unable to speak from the embarrassment she felt from being overheard.

_Maybe the day won’t be so long after all._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/n: Trying to keep a better update schedule.


	5. The Orphanage

Selina looked into the mirror. Her makeup was done as natural as possible, hiding only the tiniest of blemishes and uneven coloring on her skin. Her dress was a bell-shaped skirt with a belt around her abdomen and an exterior coat for the weather. It was her first time going out to a gala. A fancy party.

Selina scoffed at the volume of the dress. It was impractical and just plain out annoying. She tried to decrease the volume by inserting knives into the skirt to weigh it down. It did nothing. She did, however, also added a small knife into her belt.

"Selina, are you ready?" Martha asks, knocking on the door.

Selina opens the door to see the matching couple Martha and Thomas Wayne. Thomas was looking to the mirror trying to tie his bow tie.

He screams.

Martha looks at the mirror in alarm to see a spider crawling down. Quicker than Selina can follow, Martha kills it and daintily wipes it off her hand. The tissue was disposed of and she ties the bow tie for Thomas. Thomas thanks her and Martha nods in response while putting on her gloves.

"Selina," Martha says looking at her outfit. "You look well dressed. It looks great on you. Thomas, let's go, else we will be late."

Selina gets into the car, making sure her dress would not wrinkle on the way there. Martha was sitting next to Thomas in the passenger seat. Thomas lets out a sigh as Alfred makes sure he knows where to go. Before long, the car rumbled to life under them and off they went to the gala.

"Oh, you must be Selina! I have a granddaughter around your age," an elderly lady says, coming up to Selina as she stood around, not knowing where to go or what to do.

"Selina? As in the Wayne's new ward?" people started to crowd around her.

Selina tries to get to some open space but to no avail.

"Wonder what she did to gain the Wayne's interest?" someone near the back of the crowd whispers loud enough for Selina to catch.

"No, you don't think?" someone replies.

Selina bites her tongue and forces out a smile, answering as many questions with little to no information, sometimes even avoiding the question in its entirety.

Someone taps the mic to get everyone's attention. People turn and return to their seats. Selina sighs as she finds a seat at the table the Waynes were situated at.

"Good evening. I hope everyone enjoyed their dinners and dances. We will now start the auction. All of tonight's items were generously donated from many families and groups, most notably the Waynes," a light shines at their table. Martha and Thomas stand. Selina stays sitting, confused. "the Falcones and the Maronis."

At the sound of their names, Selina sits up and her hand travels to a hidden knife on her waist. The slight movement she made was inconspicuous, but both Martha and Thomas caught on. Martha pats Selina's back, soothing her, reassuring her.

As the auction continued, Selina continued to get anxious. She started to fidget and at the slightest sound, her head to jerk towards it. Thomas leans over to Martha and Martha nods. She gently taps on Selina and gestures towards the door. Selina nods and the three of them silently get up and leaves the room unnoticed.

"Selina, do you want to go on patrol tonight?" Thomas asks when they arrive back to the manor. "It might help to get rid of the gathered nerves."

Selina looks down at her shaking hands and shakes her head. If she went out in that state, it would be certain death. "Mr. Wayne, there is actually an orphanage I know of. Many of the street kids I know used to stay there before it was shut down because there was no funding. It is now run by whatever money they were able to steal and I want to help them with funding, so the kids don't have to commit crime," she pauses, looking up to see his reaction. "Can I use my allowance on that?" She flinches at the sound of his breath in.

He laughs. "Of course you can. You are allowed to use your allowance however way you want, as long as it is not illegal. Tell you what, tomorrow, let's go over there so I can see where it is and how it looks. You can also meet your friends then."

Selina smiles, "Thank you!" she skips to her room as Thomas goes to Martha to tell her about how adorable their ward was.

It was early the next morning. The sun was getting ready to shine through Selina's window and Selina was already dressed and ready to go, but when she went out to the kitchen for breakfast, there was a commotion at the front door.

"Mr. Wayne, we need to speak with Selina Kyle." someone in blue shifts at the door as Thomas Wayne stared them down.

Selina walks over and the look on the officer's faces gave it away. It was the same look she saw many other children get before they were permanently sent to an orphanage.

Before the officer could even greet her, she puts on a neutral expression and says, "It's about my dad, isn't it," the cops' expression was more than enough for confirmation. "What is it? Death or --"

"Your father was sentenced to life in jail. I'm sor--"

"Sorry? What for? He had it coming, I can't do anything about his lawbreaking habits," Selina sighs out, all of the energy from before draining out her.

Thomas steadies her and wishes the officers a good day before closing the door. He looks at Selina; she was shaking but trying to keep her hands steady.

At that moment, Selina's little childhood innocence that she held close to her heart started to crack.

"Selina," Thomas started, but Selina did not hear.

Her mind was traveling far away from the front to the back of her mind, shutting herself off from the outside world, where the last person that she looked to for the glimpse of family abandoned her.

Before long, she was sitting in her sitting room as though she was a porcelain doll whose dollmaker painted a sad expression rather than the happy usual. Her consciousness regressing further back, letting her automatic responses take over.

Thomas opened the door, looking at her unresponsive state before closing it without a sound. He looks towards Martha, unable to think to keep his emotions bottled up, starts to cry.

"Thomas," Martha soothes, her mind much clearer than before because of the therapy she agreed to after the Joker was found out. "Let it all out, but don't stop here. There is more to do to fix this situation."

Thomas nods into Martha's shoulder and pulls himself together. Giving Martha an apology for breaking down, he starts to form a plan in his head. He heads out of the house with one objective, the orphanage.

\---___---___---___

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I am back and rolling down a hill, avoiding the huge boulder of work that is about to crush me if I am not one step ahead. Anyhow, after this week is over, I will have so much more time. Two of my classes for school will actually be over, and it so happened to be the two classes that are the most work-intensive. But that will not change anything if I do not stop procrastinating.
> 
> Next update, with luck and work, next week (fingers crossed as I do not want to be held accountable for my words).


	6. Relocating Jeremiah

"Jeremiah," someone whispers.

He opens his eyes to see his mother and his uncle next to his mat. He rubs his eyes. "Wha--"

Hands dart to his mouth and silence him. His mother shushes him and points to the sleeping figure next to them. Jerome stirs and turns to his side.

"We are getting you out of here," His uncles says as his mother gestures for them to get outside. "We'll explain on the way."

Jeremiah gets out of bed and sneaks to the door where his mother shoves a bag into his hands and his uncle leads him down the road to a car that was waiting. As soon as they get in and close the door, the driver drives off down the road into the outskirts of Gotham City. There, his uncle shoves him out the door with his belongings and leaves. Jeremiah looks up at the large prison-like brick structure. He goes up and knocks on the door.

A lady opens the door and smiles, "You must be Xander, come on in." She opens the door wider and Xander goes into the building.

It has not been two days since he was dropped in front of the orphanage, but he was sitting in the matron's office with his new parents. They smiled at him as he reciprocates the feeling through his expression. The two, his adoptive parents, seemed rich, or at the least well-off, and looked to be the types to be gullible. He looked at the matron's expression, she was holding back a sigh of relief. Probably because he had a nasty reputation with the other children, yet his actions seemed contradictory.

The car they drove was a luxury brand and the newest model, not a single dent, nick or dust to be seen anywhere on or inside the car. The leather seats were the comfiest seats he has ever sat in and he smiles and nods as they ask him questions.

Soon they pulled up to the house. They entered the spacious estate. The couple showed Jeremiah to his room and left him alone for him to get comfortable. Jeremiah looks around, a bed, a desk, a set of drawers, and a large window, open windows. Jeremiah closes the curtain throwing the entire room into darkness.

"Xander?" Mrs. Wilde asks through the door.

"Yes?" Jeremiah goes to open the door.

"Xander, why is the room so dark?" She enters the room and opens the curtains again.

"My apologies, Mrs. Wilde. I seem to have procured that habit from the orphanage," he says, hiding a flinch from the bright sun shining into his eyes. "One of the other children had light-sensitive eyes and it hurt them to stay in a bright room," he supplements when she stays silent with confusion.

"You're such a sweet child," she says, smiling.

Jeremiah looks down to the floor to indicate bashfulness. "Oh no. I only just am thinking of the others, ma'am."

"Well, come on down. The headmaster of Gotham Academy is here. He wanted to see you before you entered school," Mrs. Wilde goes out of the room and Jeremiah sighs as soon as he hears her go down the stairs.

\---

"Selina," a small freshman whines into her phone. "I thought you were going to transfer to Gotham Academy."

"Pam, are you talking to Selina?" Harleen asks from her bed.

Pamela nods and puts the phone on speaker.

"I know and I am sorry, but with what is going on with the family, I cannot attend the school or any school in that matter," Selina says.

"Oh, shut up Selina. You're only saying that because you want to help the Wayne's build the orphanage. It's all fine. Pam and I understand," Harleen says.

"Thank you for understanding, I have to hang up now. I will talk to you two later."

Selina hangs up before either Harleen or Pamela could respond. Pamela puts her phone down and Harleen sighs.

Someone knocks on their dorm room door. Harleen gets up and answers it.

"Harleen, Pamela," their neighbor says, "do either of you have a class with the new student, Xander Wilde?"

"I don't. Pamela's not in a good mood right now, so it would be best if we leave her alone," Harleen answers, chasing their neighbor away.

"Oh, I do have a class with him," Pam says.

Harleen sits down on her bed. "What is he like?"

"He's like Dent but the opposite."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"He's incredibly intelligent, right? But he's trying to get out of school as quickly as possible, I think,"

"I still don't understand, Pam."

"It's like one is here to stay but the other is trying to run. Ah, never mind. Did you finish the biology homework?"

Harleen nods. "If I remember correctly, Harvey is trying to graduate two years earlier so he can get into law school early."

"I thought he was your competition, Harley."

"He is but not for graduation," Harleen says. She closes her eyes.

Pamela turns to Harleen to ask the question again only to see Harleen snoring. Pamela puts a blanket around her and goes back to working on her homework.

When Harleen woke up the next morning, Pamela was slumped across her textbook asleep. She picks her up and lays her on the bed.

"Stupid, you're going to get sick like this," Harleen says, moving Pamela's hair out of her face.

"Harley?" Pamela asks trying to sit up only to be pushed back down by Harleen. "I fell asleep, didn't I, I finished the Bio assignment, but not the mathematics, what am I going to do today?"

"Pam, it's Saturday. Sleep in,"

"That's a relief," Pamela closes her eyes and falls asleep.

Harleen goes up to the small counter on the side of the room and grabs a cup. Someone knocks on the door and she opens it.

"Harvey? What are you doing here? You aren't supposed to--"

Harvey stops Harleen from talking, put his hand over her mouth. "I snuck in. I would appreciate it if you allowed me to stay in your room until the danger passes."

Before Harleen could say anything, one of the doors starts to open. Harvey pushes his way in and hides out of sight until the person left the corridor. He sighs in relief and slumps down to the floor, exhausted.

"So, why are you here?"

"I found a secret passageway on the side of the school where there's a patch of ivy. I went into it and saw that new kid, right? I went up to greet him and he attacks me asking about Jeremiah!" Harvey says, his hands shaking as he recalls the incident. "I punched him in the throat which gave me enough time to run down and end up here."

"Won't he follow you?"

"Not without knowing the layout of the labyrinth of tunnels underground.

Harleen turns on an electric kettle and the room falls into silence. Water bubbles in the background; Harleen pours three cups of tea. She gives one to Harvey and as they wait for the tea to cool down, he looks around the dorm room.

"You two keep a tidy room."

Harleen gives the room a sweep with her sight, "I guess. Pamela isn't one to leave things lying around and I do like seeing everything organized."

Harvey tastes the tea, still a bit too hot, he flinches as he burns the tip of his tongue.

"Who is Jeremiah, anyways? Do we even have a Jeremiah at our school?" She asks.

Harvey shrugs. "It might be one of the older classmates, I do not know all of them yet," he says.

"Oh, that reminds me," She stands up and goes to her desk. "I got the entire school roster through my statistics teacher for a survey. It's the most updated one, including, what's his name, new guy." Harleen turns around with a file, she looks through the hundred-some names and shakes her head. "No Jeremiah. We've got Jeremy, though."

"Maybe Jeremy is his nickname?"

"The roster has the legal names. Unless Jeremiah is an alias of someone at our school," Harleen says. She pulls out her phone and dials Selina. "Hey, Selina. Uh, yeah. No trouble, just a request. Can you see if anyone at Gotham Academy has another name they go by? Someone attacked Harvey asking for Jeremiah--Harvey, did he say a last name?-- no last name, that's all he heard. The name? Oh, right. Jeremiah. I don't know how to spell that. It was verbal. Alright, thanks, Selina. A request from you? Of course, what is it? Uh-huh,"

Harvey gets off the floor and goes to the list of names.

"Alright, I'll look into it. Talk to ya later!" Harleen hangs up and looks at the roster with Harvey.

"Do you know the background of any of these people?"

"Uh, you can definitely cross off us three. Harvey, you said it was the new guy but was it really the new guy or a look-a-like?"

"Now that I think about it, his clothes were tattered. I just brushed it off as he fell somewhere, but it looked really worn."

"You can cross off like half the people on the list with that. Aaron, pompous jerk, probably not going to want to wear any tattered clothing. Kirsti and Evelynn won't want to go into any tunnel, especially one that is dusty and dirty." Harleen continued and Harvey also contributes to some degree.

"I can ask Xander," Pamela says, scaring both Harleen and Harvey. "I'll call him Jeremiah and you two can see the reaction from afar."

"What if he's dangerous?" Harleen says.

"Harley, you should know better than to judge someone from their appearance. Plus, I don't think he has any malicious intent," Pamela says. She gets out of bed and gets some water. "How are you going to get out, Harvey?"

Harvey's eyes open wide as he realizes the time. "I have a student council meeting today."

Pamela goes to the closet and brings out a wig and a dress, "I still have this from the last Halloween. I have to say, you look mighty good as a girl."

Harleen bursts out laughing as Harvey's ears turn red.

"I can't believe you still have this," Harvey says.

Pamela tosses him the wig and the dress, "Go on and change, Harley and I won't look."

Harvey grimaces and when Harleen and Pamela were both looking at the desk, the opposite direction from where he was, he changes into the dress and puts on the wig. "I'm done."

Harleen was the first to turn, bursting out in laughter and asking him to do a spin whereas Pamela smiled.

"Great look, you should wear it more often," Harleen says, still laughing.

Pamela puts on her shoes and opens the door, "After you, Holly."

Harvey mutters thanks as he walks out the door. Pamela and Harleen exit the room afterward, making sure to lock their door and take their keys. They walk down the hallway, keeping a light conversation between Pamela and Harleen, making sure Harvey does not talk more than he needs to. Halfway to the exit, they see the hall director. Harvey ducks his head down, but she already spotted him.

"Hey! You three, stop right there!"

\---___---___---___---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally got this chapter out. It took a while because I don't know how I wanted to transition this little beginning part.  
> As promised, I have gotten 6 chapters out before the end of this year.


End file.
